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Deen · Interactive · الصَّلَاة
Pick a prayer and follow it position by position: what to do, what to say in Arabic with the transliteration and meaning, and how many rakʿahs are left. Every step shows the hadith it comes from, and where the four schools pray it differently, the page says so.
Before you start
Wuḍūʾ
Wash the face, the arms to the elbows, wipe the head, and wash the feet to the ankles. The Qur'an sets these four out in 5:6. The Prophet ﷺ also rinsed the mouth and nose and washed each part three times, and taught that “prayer is not accepted without purification” .
Facing the qibla and the time
Face the Kaʿbah in Makkah 2:144. Each prayer has its time 4:103: the Muslim Daily Toolkit works out both for where you are.
The intention
Know which prayer you are about to pray. “Actions are only by intentions” . Scholars The intention is in the heart; most scholars hold that saying it aloud is not required, and many say it was not the Prophet's ﷺ practice.
All the words, in order
Where the four schools differ
| Question | Ḥanafī | Mālikī | Shāfiʿī | Ḥanbalī |
|---|
If you lose count or make a mistake
Not sure if it was three or four?
Sunna Build on what you are sure of (the lower number), finish the prayer, then make two extra prostrations before the salām . The two prostrations are called sujūd al-sahw, the prostrations of forgetfulness.
Forgot the middle sitting?
Sunna The Prophet ﷺ once stood up after two rakʿahs of Dhuhr without sitting for the tashahhud. He carried on and made the two prostrations before the salām .
Still learning the words?
Scholars A new Muslim who has not yet learned the Fātiḥah says what he or she can of remembrance of Allah and keeps learning. A man asked the Prophet ﷺ for something to say in its place and was taught subḥāna llāh, al-ḥamdu lillāh, lā ilāha illā llāh, Allāhu akbar, lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh .
Sources
Qur'an: Dr Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran, via quran.com. Hadith: checked on sunnah.com with the grading shown there. English of the du'ā' in hadith is my own rendering of the Arabic.